Pumping systems

ABSTRACT

A gas turbine engine is arranged to drive a pump which is positioned in a crude oil pipeline. An evaporator is adapted to receive some of the crude oil from which some of the lighter fractions of the oil are extracted by the evaporator which passes the lighter fractions to the engine as fuel. The evaporator has a heater which includes two heat exchangers, in one of which the crude oil is heated by the residue of crude oil from which the lighter fractions have been extracted and in the other one of which, the crude oil is heated by hot water which has been heated on a further heat exchanger by some of the exhaust gases from the gas turbine engine.

Unite States Patent .llubb [151 3,6 [4 1 Apr. 1a, 1972 [54] PUMPING SYSTEMS [72] inventor: Albert Jubb, Kenilworth, England [73] Assignee: Rolls Royce Limited, Derby, England 221 Filed: Sept. 14, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 71,755

30 Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. is, 1969 GreatBritain ..46,0-16/69 521 u.s.c| ..417/364 51 Int. Cl ..r04b 17/00, F04b 35/00 53 FieldofSearch ..'....4l 7/364 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATESPATENTS I 2,284,809 6/1942 Dyer et al. ..4l7/3 64 2,432,079 l2/l947 Albert, Jr ..4l7/364 Primary Examiner-Robert M. Walker Attorney-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [57] ABSTRACT A gas turbine engine is arranged to drive a pump which is positioned in a-crude oil pipeline. An evaporator is adapted to' receive someof the crude oil from which some of the lighter fractions of the oil are extracted by the evaporator which passes the lighter fractions to the engine as fuel.

The evaporator has a heater which includes two heat exchangers, in one of which the crude oil is heated by the residue of crude oil from which the lighter fractions have been extracted and in the other one of which, the crude oil is heated by hot water which has been heated on a further heat exchanger by some of the exhaust gases from gas turbine engine;

5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure PATENTEDAPR 18 I972 By R d 9 wluwAltomey This invention relates to pumping systems for pumping crude oil, and is particularly but not exclusively concerned with a gas turbine engine powered pumping system for pumping crude oil.

According to thepresent invention, a pumping system for pumping crude oil comprises pump means adapted to be positioned in a crude oil pipeline so as to pump the crude oil, an internal combustion engine adapted to drive the pump means, evaporating means adapted to be connected to the pipeline so as to receive some of the crude oil and to evaporate at least some of the light fractions therefrom, and means for conveying the evaporated light fractions to the internal combustion engine, the evaporated light fractions constituting the fuel for the internal combustion engine.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the internal combustion engine is a gas turbine engine.

The evaporating means preferably comprises heating means connected to receive and heat the crude oil and pressure reducing valve means connected to receive the heated crude oil and to reduce the pressure thereof so as to evaporate at least some of said light fractions.

The pressure reducing valve means is preferably adapted to produce swirl in the heated crude oil supplied thereto.

The heating means may comprise a first heat exchanger having a first flow path connected to receive the crude oil in heat exchange relationship with a second flow path connected to receive a liquid, for example water, which has been heated by the exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine.

The heating means may additionally comprise a further heat exchanger having a first flow path connected, upstream of the first flow path of the first heat exchanger, to receive the crude oil in heat exchange relationship with a second flow path connected to receive the residue of the crude oil after evaporation of said at least some of the lighter fractions.

The evaporating means may further include a pair of pumps which are preferably connected back to back, and which may be connected to be driven by the internal combustion engine, one of said pumps being arranged to supply the crude oil to the heating means and the other of said pumps being arranged to return the residue of the crude oil after evaporation of said at least some of the lighter fractions to the pipeline.

The invention will now be particularly described, by way of non-limitative example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a schematic diagram of a crude oil pumping system in accordance with the present invention.

In the drawing there is shown a crude oil pipeline of the kind used to convey crude oil from an oilfield to a refinery or port. The. pipeline 10 contains a pump 12 which is advantageously a large piston pump and which is connected to be driven by a gas turbine engine 14 via a shaft 16, a reduction gear box 18 and a shaft 20. The gas turbine engine 14 is adapted to run on gaseous fuel and comprises, in flow series, a compressor 22, combustion equipment 24, a high pressure turbine 26 drivingly connected to the compressor 22 by a shaft 28 and a free power turbine 30 which is drivingly connected to the shaft 16.

A small portion (typically 10,000 gallons per hour) of the crude oil flowing in the pipeline 10 is diverted from the main flow downstream of the pump 12 into a branch conduit 32 containing one pump 34 of a pair of back to back piston pumps 34,36 which are driven from the gearbox 18 via an auxiliary drive shaft 38. Crude oil leaving the pump 34 passes through one flow path 40 of a two-path heat exchanger 42 where it is heated as will be hereinafter described and then passes into, and is further heated in, a chamber 44 containing a finned heat exchanger coil 46 through which hot water (typically at 200 C.) flows in a downwards direction from a header tank 48.

The hot water in the header tank 48 is heated in a further chamber 50 which is connected for the through flow of about 5 percent of the exhaust gases from the power turbine 30 and which contains a further finned heat exchanger coil 52. The

nan-I heat exchanger coil 52 is connected to receive water from the coil 46 and to supply it to the header tank 48, convection being sufficient to cause the water to circulate around the closed circuit constituted by the coil 52, the header tank 48 and the coil 46. The header tank 48 is provided with a safety valve 54.

The heated crude oil (typically 175 C.) passes from the chamber 44 into a chamber 56 via a pressure reducing valve 58, thus causing the lighter fractions of the crude oil, say the top 5 to 10 percent which typically includes methane, ethane, propane and butane, to flash off into vapor. The valve 58 is preferably designed to induce swirl so as to assist the separation of the lighter fractions from the crude oil. The residue of the crude oil (typically at C.) passes through the other flow path 60 of the heat exchanger 42, thus heating the crude oil in the flow path 40, and is pumped back into the pipeline 10 by the pump 36. y

The vapour-ised lighter fractions of the crude oil are typically at a pressure of 200 p.s.i. and a temperature of C., and pass from the chamber 56 via a conduit 62 optionally containing a cooler (not shown) to a gas turbine engine gaseous fuel flow control unit 64 and thence into the combustion equipment 24. The lighter fractions of the crude oil thus constitute the fuel of the gas turbine engine 14.

The crude oil pumping system of the present invention thus has the advantage that it derives its fuel supply relatively simply from the crude oil being pumped.

It will be appreciated that many variations to the described pumping system can be made. For example, the gas turbine engine could be replaced by one or more internal combustion engines of a different type. Further, the pumps 34, 36 may be arranged to be independently driven, e.g. by an electric motor, while the crude oil may be differently heated, to assist in evaporating the lighter fractions therefrom, directly by the exhaust gases of the gas turbine or other internal combustion engme.

We claim:

1. A pumping system for pumping crude oil comprising: pump means operatively positioned in a crude oil pipeline for pumping oil therethrough; an internal combustion engine operatively connected to said pump means for driving the same; evaporating means operatively connected to said pipeline for receiving a portion of the crude oil therefrom and being arranged to evaporate at least some light fractions from said portion of the crude oil to leave a residue of crude oil for return to said crude oil pipeline, said evaporating means comprising heating means connected to receive and heat the said portion of crude oil, pressure reducing valve means for receiving the heated said portionof crude oil and reducing the pressure thereof to evaporate at least some light fractions therefrom, said heating means including a first heat exchanger having a first flow path operatively connected to said crude oil pipeline and to said pressure reducing valve means and a closed cycle second flow path in heat exchange relationship with said first flow path and having liquid therein; means for utilizing exhaust gases from said internal combustion engine to heat the liquid in said second flow path; and means to convey the evaporated light fractions from said pressure reducing valve means to said internal combustion engine to provide fuel therefor.

2. A pumping system as claimed in claim 1 in which said heating means includes a further heat exchanger having a first flow path connected upstream of the first flow path of said first heat exchanger to receive crude oil from said crude oil pipeline and a second flow path in heat exchange relationship therewith and connected downstream of said pressure reducing valve means to receive the residue of crude oil from the same after evaporation and to return the residue of crude oil to the crude oil pipeline.

3. A pumping system as claimed in claim 2 including a pair of pumps, one of said pumps being arranged to supply crude oil to said heating means and the other of said pumps being arranged to return the residue of crude oil to the pipeline.

4. A pumping system as claimed in claim 3 in which the pair of pumps are arranged back to back and are arranged to be driven by the internal combustion engine.

5. A pumping system as claimed in claim 1 in which said internal combustion engine is a gas turbine engine. 5 

1. A pumping system for pumping crude oil comprising: pump means operatively positioned in a crude oil pipeline for pumping oil therethrough; an internal combustion engine operatively connected to said pump means for driving the same; evaporating means operatively connected to said pipeline for receiving a portion of the crude oil therefrom and being arranged to evaporate at least some light fractions from said portion of the crude oil to leave a residue of crude oil for return to said crude oil pipeline, said evaporating means comprising heating means connected to receive and heat the said portion of crude oil, pressure reducing valve means for receiving the heated said portion of crude oil and redUcing the pressure thereof to evaporate at least some light fractions therefrom, said heating means including a first heat exchanger having a first flow path operatively connected to said crude oil pipeline and to said pressure reducing valve means and a closed cycle second flow path in heat exchange relationship with said first flow path and having liquid therein; means for utilizing exhaust gases from said internal combustion engine to heat the liquid in said second flow path; and means to convey the evaporated light fractions from said pressure reducing valve means to said internal combustion engine to provide fuel therefor.
 2. A pumping system as claimed in claim 1 in which said heating means includes a further heat exchanger having a first flow path connected upstream of the first flow path of said first heat exchanger to receive crude oil from said crude oil pipeline and a second flow path in heat exchange relationship therewith and connected downstream of said pressure reducing valve means to receive the residue of crude oil from the same after evaporation and to return the residue of crude oil to the crude oil pipeline.
 3. A pumping system as claimed in claim 2 including a pair of pumps, one of said pumps being arranged to supply crude oil to said heating means and the other of said pumps being arranged to return the residue of crude oil to the pipeline.
 4. A pumping system as claimed in claim 3 in which the pair of pumps are arranged back to back and are arranged to be driven by the internal combustion engine.
 5. A pumping system as claimed in claim 1 in which said internal combustion engine is a gas turbine engine. 